If it’s good, it’s good.

Sci-fi is nearly “mainstream.” The flood of sci-fi, comic book, fantasy, and stories set in an alternative universe has brought a wonderful world of stories to our doorsteps. My friends who used to raise an eyebrow at the idea of going to a “weird movie with aliens or orcs” are lining up to read Game of Thrones.

The quintessential Hipster™ refuses to like anything once more than a few thousand people care to think about it. These two attitudes come from the same source, I think: priding oneself in being on the leading edge of a trend rather than on the bandwagon.

And hey, that’s cool. I get it. I too enjoy a tiny sense of pride knowing that I listened to Mumford & Sons long before they were popular in the US (but only because some other, more-musically-aware friends of mine had already started talking about them).

But really, people —

Good music, good TV, good stories: These are good because of intrinsic quality, not because they’re popular. I agree that the popular taste can seem like the lowest-common-denominator, but it doesn’t have to be.

Why wouldn’t we be THRILLED that more people love the stories and tunes that we’ve come to love? I’m excited that I can connect to more people now because of sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, anime, and video games.

Living in 2013 is so cool. Go watch/read/hear something you would have never considered…. and encourage the rest of us to do the same.

Why is “Sci-fi is nearly “mainstream” good? Also, I think this sort of obsessions were very existing during the star wars craze as well… not sure if it’s a super new thing. But yeah, I suspect Dr. Who is a big draw to sci-fi for a lot of younger people. But these “craze” moments have definitely happend with big sci-fi movies etc in the past — Star Wars, Alien + Aliens, etc.

Yes, that’s true. But it seems like both the overall quantity AND quality of sci-fi films, TV series, and books is rising rapidly. IMHO.

As to whether that’s good…..well, that’s entirely a value judgment on my part. I think there’s a lot of value to literature (and I include video/film in that category) that makes people think. Forces them to consider consequences or outcomes of current policies, choices, direction.

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You know you’ve entered a temple when disagreement is treated as sacrilege. The animosity directed toward NFL players kneeling at the anthem, protesting police brutality and structural racism, is the sort of acrimony we reserve for infidels….

This response to the kneeling controversy tells us something about the state of American civil religion and the way it accommodates — and then deforms — traditional religious communities.

The tropes of “God and country” or “faith and the flag” are almost always instances where country and flag domesticate faith in God. Or, to put this in terms that religious folk should understand: These liturgies of civil religion are covert modes of idolatry. The rank and priority are reversed; our political identities trump all others.

This is how stadiums became temples of nationalism. When the Constitution functions like Scripture, and the pledge serves as our creed, and the flag is revered like the cross, and the national anthem becomes our hymn, and the hand over heart is a sacred expression like the sign of the cross, then a swelling patriotism becomes our religion and dissenters are heretics.